Congratulations to Regional Victoria’s young Creative Leaders: inspired and on their way!

Investing in the creative leaders of tomorrow, Regional Arts Victoria’s Creative Leadership Program takes twelve emerging arts leaders (selected by competitive application) from across regional and remote Victoria and immerses them in a nine-day intensive of workshops, talks and placements.

Presented in Melbourne from 2-10 February 2014, the program provided enviable access to Victoria’s leading arts professionals and organisations including National Gallery of Victoria, Arts Centre Melbourne, Victorian College of the Arts, Malthouse Theatre and dozens more! The program involved a range of presentations by key leaders in arts management, networking opportunities, and a chance for each individual participant to spend “A day in the life” shadowing arts managers from across the industry to observe first-hand the broad range of challenges, tasks and concerns they will come across in their future careers.

The program has been designed by our Education & Families team to inspire an exciting life‐long career in the arts.

”Every year I’m astounded by the passion and the smarts of our Creative Leaders,” said Esther Anatolitis, Director, Regional Arts Victoria. “Not only are our Creative Leaders emerging artists in their own right, but they also have the capacity to inspire creativity in others, building a lasting legacy for their communities and towns. Keep an eye out for these young creative catalysts!”

At the conclusion of the program, Joseph Noonan from Portland, Toby McKenzie from Camperdown, Lucy Johnson from Terang and Letesha Stephens from Stawell were awarded Regional Arts Victoria’s Bridget Lloyd Jones Memorial Prize, providing seed funding for their exceptional winning team project idea, which they pitched to a panel of expert judges.

An innovative, site-specific work, Silo Operawill see an opera work performed in, on and around a set of abandoned grain silos in south-west Victoria. The young team behind the project hope to engage local indigenous artists and performers in the work, and encourage non-traditional arts audiences from the community with a public performance.

The Bridget Lloyd Jones Memorial Prize, originally established in 2012, is awarded in honour of the late Bridget Lloyd Jones, a former staff member who was the embodiment of a young leader with all of the drive, ambition and innovation that that entails. Bridget was instrumental in setting up the Marysville Big Screen project following the Black Saturday fires and contributed strongly to the RAV Storyboard project. Her love for the Marysville area developed during the project to such an extent that she was moved to purchase her own block of land there. Tragically, Bridget was diagnosed with cancer in 2010 and passed away in January 2011. This Award honours her memory and allows young leaders with similar enthusiasm and creativity to enjoy a boost to their careers in the arts.